Tonight in Phoenix Donald Trump told the audience that Sheriff Joe Arpaio should “feel pretty great” because he will eventually pardon the convicted lawman. He said he will not pardon Joe tonight because he doesn’t want to “cause any controversy,” but don’t worry Joe, you’ll do “just fine.”
Let’s remember, Arpaio was convicted of racial profiling, a federal felony—what Trump calls “doing his job.” Then a couple weeks ago Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt of court because after the judge told him to knock off his unconstitutional immigration sweeps, Arpaio kept right on doing them. And those are just the most recent guilty verdicts, joining a long list.
This is the man Trump calls a “great American patriot” who he says doesn’t “deserve” this treatment, which could include jail. Forget about the inmates in Arpaio’s jails who were killed or tortured, or the hundreds of people he illegally arrested and detained — forget about whether they “deserved” their treatment.
I was at the counter protest tonight. Despite what Trump said, there were a lot of people outside — nor were we, as he characterized the protesters, a bunch of masked anarchists wearing helmets and carrying clubs. Instead, we were families, students, children, veterans. Even the Boy Scouts were there handing out water to the protesters.
The president’s talk mostly covered the usual subject: Trump. He of course obsessed over crowd size inside and out—his people tweeting a photo of a Cleveland Cav’s parade to show how big the crowd was in Phoenix. Busted!
The man is nuts, right? And here I thought I’d never live to see a president diss a senior senator from his own party, during the week of the senator’s brain surgery. Classy.